Portland OKs New Homeless Camping Rules That Threaten Fines or Jail in Some Cases
The mayor's office says it seeks to comply with a state law requiring cities to have “objectively reasonable” restrictions on camping.
Safety Lapses Contributed to Patient Assaults at Oregon State Hospital
A federal report says safety lapses at the Oregon State Hospital contributed to recent patient-on-patient assaults. The report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigated a recent choking attack and sexual assault, among other incidents. It found that staff didn't always adequately supervise their patients, and that the hospital didn't fully investigate the incidents. In a statement, the hospital said it was dedicated to its patients and working to improve conditions. It has 10 days from receiving the report to submit a plan of correction. The hospital is Oregon's most secure inpatient psychiatric facility
Police Detain Driver Who Accelerated Toward Protesters at Portland State University in Oregon
The Portland Police Bureau said in a written statement late Thursday afternoon that the man was taken to a hospital on a police mental health hold. They did not release his name. The vehicle appeared to accelerate from a stop toward the crowd but braked before it reached anyone.
Portland Government Will Change On Jan. 1. The City’s Transition Team Explains What We Can Expect.
‘It’s a learning curve that everyone has to be intentional about‘
Governor Kotek Issues Statement on Role of First Spouse
"I take responsibility for not being more thoughtful in my approach to exploring the role of the First Spouse." ...
Over million in new funding will help build a behavioral health drop in center, expand violence prevention programs, and...
Scheduled for June 29th, the “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C.: A Call to...
Legendary Civil Rights Leader Medgar Wiley Evers Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
Evers family overwhelmed with gratitude after Biden announces highest civilian honor. ...
April 30 is the Registration Deadline for the May Primary Election
Voters can register or update their registration online at OregonVotes.gov until 11:59 p.m. on April 30. ...
No criminal charges in rare liquor probe at Oregon alcohol agency, state report says
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Criminal charges are not warranted in the rare liquor probe that shook Oregon’s alcohol agency last year and forced its executive director to resign, state justice officials said Monday. In February 2023, the Oregon Department of Justice began investigating...
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked road near Sea-Tac airport plead not guilty
SEATAC, Wash. (AP) — More than three dozen pro-Palestinian protesters accused of blocking a main road into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month pleaded not guilty on Monday to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and failing to disperse. Thirty-seven people pleaded...
Defending national champion LSU boosts its postseason hopes with series win against Texas A&M
With two weeks left in the regular season, LSU is scrambling to avoid becoming the third straight defending national champion to miss the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers (31-18, 9-15) won two of three against then-No. 1 Texas A&M to take a giant step over the weekend, but they...
The Bo Nix era begins in Denver, and the Broncos also drafted his top target at Oregon
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — For the first time in his 17 seasons as a coach, Sean Payton has a rookie quarterback to nurture. Payton's Denver Broncos took Bo Nix in the first round of the NFL draft. The coach then helped out both himself and Nix by moving up to draft his new QB's top...
The Skanner News May 2024 Primary Endorsements
Read The Skanner News endorsements and vote today. Candidates for mayor and city council will appear on the November general election ballot. ...
Nation’s Growing Racial and Gender Wealth Gaps Need Policy Reform
Never-married Black women have 8 cents in wealth for every dollar held by while males. ...
Multiple recent announcements from the Biden administration offer new hope for the 43.2 million borrowers hoping to get relief from the onerous burden of a collective
Op-Ed: Why MAGA Policies Are Detrimental to Black Communities
NNPA NEWSWIRE – MAGA proponents peddle baseless claims of widespread voter fraud to justify voter suppression tactics that disproportionately target Black voters. From restrictive voter ID laws to purging voter rolls to limiting early voting hours, these...
Risks of handcuffing someone facedown long known; people die when police training fails to keep up
For decades, police across the United States have been warned that the common tactic of handcuffing someone facedown could turn deadly if officers pin them on the ground with too much pressure or for too long. Recommendations first made by major departments and police associations...
AP Investigation: In hundreds of deadly police encounters, officers broke multiple safety guidelines
In hundreds of deaths where police used force meant to stop someone without killing them, officers violated well-known guidelines for safely restraining and subduing people — not simply once or twice, but multiple times. Most violations involved pinning people facedown in ways that...
Trump suggests Chinese migrants are in the US to build an 'army.' The migrants tell another story
NEW YORK (AP) — It was 7 a.m. on a recent Friday when Wang Gang, a 36-year-old Chinese immigrant, jostled for a day job in New York City's Flushing neighborhood. When a potential employer pulled up near the street corner, home to a Chinese bakery and pharmacy, Wang and dozens of...
Doug Liman, Matt Damon and the Afflecks made a heist comedy for Apple. 'The Instigators'
Filmmaker Doug Liman realized quickly he wasn't on his home turf anymore. Matt Damon, who he’d directed in “The Bourne Identity” over 20 years ago, had recruited Liman for his new movie “The Instigators,” an action-comedy about a heist gone wrong. Though two decades of...
Book Review: Coming-of-age meets quarter-life crisis in Fiona Warnick's ambitious debut 'The Skunks'
Usually when I see a book described as an “ambitious debut” I read it as a cop-out. Isn’t a debut inherently ambitious? What does that even mean? “The Skunks” is what that means. And Fiona Warnick makes it look effortless. A coming-of-age novel with a...
Police investigating shooting outside Drake's mansion that left security guard wounded
TORONTO (AP) — Police are investigating a shooting outside rapper Drake's mansion in Toronto that left a security guard seriously wounded. Authorities did not confirm whether Drake was at home at the time of the shooting, but said his team is cooperating. The shooting happened...
Russian president Putin to make a state visit to China this week
BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week, the Chinese...
Georgian parliament holds 3rd and final reading of divisive bill on foreign influence
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday began the third and final reading of a divisive bill...
Dispute over transgender woman admitted to Wyoming sorority to be argued before appeal judges
DENVER (AP) — A U.S. appeals court in Denver is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by six...
Cannes kicks off with Greta Gerwig's jury and a Palme d'Or for Meryl Streep
CANNES, France (AP) — The Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday with the unveiling of Greta Gerwig's jury and the...
Thousands replaster Mali's Great Mosque of Djenne, which is threatened by conflict
DJENNE, Mali (AP) — Thousands of Malians carrying buckets and jugs of mud joined the annual replastering of the...
Misery deepens in Gaza's Rafah as Israeli troops press operation
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Aid workers struggled Monday to distribute dwindling food and other supplies to...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court failed to resolve a knotty dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama administration over birth control on Monday, the latest indication of the shorthanded court's struggle to find a majority for important cases taken up before Justice Antonin Scalia's death.
The justices asked lower courts to take another look at the issue in a search for a compromise, issuing an unsigned, unanimous opinion. The case concerns the administration's arrangement for sparing faith-based groups from having to pay for birth control for women covered under their health plans.
"The court expresses no view on the merits of the cases," the justices wrote, ending a major confrontation over President Barack Obama's health care law ended with a whimper and no resolution. The matter almost certainly will not return to the Supreme Court before the 2016 presidential election, and perhaps not until a new justice is confirmed to take Scalia's seat, if at all.
The outcome suggested the court lacked a majority for such a significant ruling, underscoring the effect of Scalia's absence. Already two cases have resulted in 4-4 ties since the conservative's death in February.
The lack of a resolution leaves the government able for now to ensure that women covered by faith-based groups' health plans have access to cost-free contraceptives. But the groups, which include not-for-profit colleges and charities, won't face fines for not adhering to administration procedures for objecting to birth control benefits.
By complying, they argued they would be complicit in making contraceptives available in violation of their religious beliefs as their insurers or insurance administrators would then assume responsibility for providing birth control.
The justices appeared evenly divided on the question when they heard arguments in late March. And the court seemed to acknowledge the division shortly after when it ordered the two sides to file a new and unusual round of legal briefs in search of a compromise, perhaps by making contraceptive coverage available without requiring a notice of objection.
Eight appeals courts nationwide have sided with the administration; four of those were challenged in the case before the Supreme Court. One court has ruled for the groups so far.
In 2014, the justices divided 5-4 with Scalia in the majority to allow some "closely held" businesses with religious objections to refuse to pay for contraceptives. That case involved the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores and other companies that said their rights were being violated under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Catholic and Protestant colleges, charities and advocacy groups invoked the same law in asking the government to find a way that does not involve them or their insurers in birth control provisions.
The challengers included Bishop David Zubik, head of the Catholic Diocese in Pittsburgh; the Little Sisters of the Poor, nuns who run more than two dozen nursing homes for impoverished seniors; evangelical and Catholic colleges in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C.; and the anti-abortion advocacy group Priests for Life.
Contraception is among a range of preventive services that must be provided at no extra charge under the health care law. The administration pointed to research showing the high cost of some methods of contraception discourages women from using them. One effective means of birth control, the intrauterine device, can cost up to $1,000.
Houses of worship and other religious institutions whose primary purpose is to spread the faith are exempt from the birth control requirement.
Other faith-affiliated groups have to tell the government or their insurers if they object, and allow their insurer or third-party administrator to handle matters related to birth control.
Some groups, including Little Sisters of the Poor, contract with church-based insurers, which themselves are exempt from having to provide contraceptives.
A ruling for the groups, the administration argues, would disadvantage tens of thousands of women.